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Friday, January 30, 2009

I am taking part in the Pay It Forward movement that I saw over at Jill's blog. I have always loved the idea behind PIF's and have done many in the past. How this one works is quite simple. The first three people to sign up on this post will receive a surprise PIF sometime within the next 365 days. Then each of my three players will invite their own three players and so on. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Ok, so the first three to sign up (international welcome) will receive some Rsislandcrafts goodness sometime this year. In return, you will make a post on your blog and offer the same thing to three of your blog readers.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

This guy is a spin off from my original snake scarf. I saw where someone had taken the pattern and turned it into a dragon. That idea stuck in the back of my head until now. I added some ears and nostrils then did surface crochet for the spines. They are a combination of sc, hdc, dc, trc to achieve the bumps. The flames are made like tassels out of some fun fur type yarn I had buried in my stash. As usual, my eyes are a bit goofy but I still love them!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Once I started putting the borders around Savannah's butterfly blocks I just couldn't stop there. The plan was to sew them all together today. I just couldn't wait to see how they looked all together. I was almost late for work last night, but it was worth it :) I originally bought the blue in the sashing for the butterfly wings. When I saw it next to the purple I knew it had to become sashing. They work so well together.

Now, to decide how to quilt it. I know it will be free motion quilted. I probably could get away with just stitching on the ditch or outlining the butterflies, but I don't have a walking foot. Without a walking foot I have a hard time keeping the back from getting any ripples. I could use a variegated blue and quilt within the butterflies, or use either a pink or purple and quilt within the purple background. I think I am leaning towards doing the quilting in the background. Do you think I should use a pink or purple thread though? The back of the quilt will be black with pink butterflies all over it. I also chose a pink binding to bring the pink around to the front. I probably won't get to making the quilt sandwich for a couple days.This guy is for the Toy Society. We will be dropping him at the library when we return our books next month. It was just a quick bear pattern from an old book I have.

I had to add this little heart to his side though. This fabric is almost an upholstery weight. It was fraying and pulling apart when I was sewing the seam closed. Now he has a little character :)

I also finished off these two Viking Hats. I took care of the loose ends and added the horns. Both of these Viking Hats will be in the shop soon. One is newborn size and the other is toddler if I remember correctly.I have been working on this stocking for a couple days. I love to make felt stockings with all the beads and sequins. The only thing left to do yesterday was sew the back on. He will make it into the shop soon too.

Snowmen are one of my favorite characters. I am very pleased with how well the satin stitching came out on his cute face.

I feel great about how much I accomplished yesterday. Today, I'm hoping to finish up the dragon scarf I'm working on. Then I need to find another crochet/knit project to work on....

This past week I have been working on a new quilt for our Great-niece Savannah. Savannah lives way over in Missouri with her Mommy, 2 sisters, and 1 brother. I didn't realize I was a bad Auntie until I found out that all of Savannah's siblings have received a blanket from me except her :( Well, sometime this month or next month she will be holding her very own quilt!I have appliqued all 12 blocks needed for the top. Here is just a small sampling. I did a satin stitch around 6 of the butterflies and the other 6 have a blanket stitch.

I have a very pretty blue that will become the borders. I just hope I bought enough.

The pattern can be found at Sindy's site. She has so many great patterns. I think most of my gift wuilts this year will be from her site.

Earlier this month, I was wandering around blogland and came across Tallgrass Prairie Studio's Project Improv. I have been looking at a bunch of different quilting blogs lately. I guess I have caught the quilting bug. I have been looking at all the different swaps people are doing. I wanted to find something to get my feet wet. Project Improv was a great fit for me. We each need to make one wonky log cabin in the color group we chose. I went for the orange/pink group because I knew I had those colors in my stash. I made my first block and it went together so quick and easy! It took me less than a half hour. Since it came out looking nice I decided to go ahead and make one for each of the other color groups. These are the three blocks that I sent. They will be added to the charity quilts that are being made in each color group.

I did a search for log cabin blocks to see what my options were. I saw many, many , many different versions. I tried one where you keep the beginning square in a corner (green/blue). Not bad, but not quite there either.

I saw one where you go around the main square in a specific sequence. It made the red/aqua block look very squarish. I like this one alot, but it might not work for a scrappy quilt if you don't have enough pieces in specific colors.

The pink/orange one was the first one I tried. I like how you just grab pieces and sew them on. Very free.

Now, I need to figure out what I am going to do for my personal Improv Project. Whatever it turns out to be, one thing I know is that it will be scrappy. Some of the things I want to make are coasters, placemats, purses, and quilts. I would like to eventually start and finish a spiderweb quilt. I would also like to make a crumb quilt, a crazy patch style quilt, and the list goes on and on. I think I am going to become one of those quilters that make lots of tops but only finishes a few quilts :)

Monday, January 12, 2009

I finished up both placemats. They are both backed with the same jungle bird fabric. I found the bird fabric at the same thrift shop as the duck panel. The tan fabric is left over from another quilt. I need to work on my picture taking skills though. The way I layed it down makes it look all wonky along the top. It is actually pretty even. I just did a quick stitch around the inside of the duck applique to quilt it all together. I was going to do a stipple all around the duck (in the tan section) but decided to just leave it as it is.

I also stitched up hubby's lounge pants. I've made him 3 pairs from this pattern so far. It's funny how each pair fits just a bit differently. I guess it is the type of fabric I used each time. The first pair was from a thinner material, the second was from an old sheet, and now these. I think this Giants fabric is a bit thicker/sturdier than the first fabric.Unfortunately.... the Giants lost yesterday :( Poor hubby.

The kids received some late Christmas cash and wanted top go out and spend it today (of course). So we ended up spending some time wandering around Target looking for just the right things. Robbie found some weird guy that turns into a ball and a Nerf gun. Mandy blew all her money on Sharpies and other pens at Staples. I'm about 90% done on the flamingo now. I blame it all on the kids.....

P.S. Don't you just love where the doggie ate part of my carpet? Rotten little doggie!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I was on a waiting list for what seemed like forever at JoAnne's (online) for this back ordered Giants cotton fabric. It's pretty easy to find the fleece, but not the cotton. Part of it will be made into lounge pants for Hubby this weekend. The rest will go towards a quilt. I'm sure I can tweak a few extra pieces out for some ornaments for my BIL and maybe a couple placemats. If not placemats, then definitely coasters.

I thought these guys were so cute when I first saw the book. As usual, it has been sitting on my shelf for awhile waiting for me to decide which one to make. Since I am trying to use up my yarn stash I went with the flamingo.

I've been working on this crocheted flamingo for a bit over a week now. The first few days were crocheting the main parts. The last couple of nights have been adding the fringe. You add a 4" piece of yarn to each stitch (pink parts only) like in latch hooking. I think I have about 10 hours worth of fringing done so far. I hope to finish it up either tonight or tomorrow. Then she needs a haircut!

I found this duck panel at my local thrift store for $.25. My BIL and SIL live on Lake Ontario in Upstate NY. My SIL is always talking about her ducks so my daughter and I thought she might like these. I thought they were a front and back so I could make a pillow. When I took them out today, I saw that they were both fronts. I guess someone had already cut out the backs and did whatever with them. I figured I could just use some of my fabric stash to make the backs. My hubby came up with a great idea though. (I know shocking isn't it?) He suggested I make two placemats for them. What a great idea!

So far those are my main projects to work on this weekend. I'm hoping to add some more but I don't know if the family will leave me alone that long. I've already wasted most of today out grocery shopping :) I did find some cool socks to make sock monkeys with though....

Saturday, January 3, 2009

I recently made my first sock monkey. Well, it was supposed to be a monkey, but I put the ears on wrong (surprise ) and now it is just a sock creature. We left him at Jim Jeffers Park here in Cape Coral, Florida. I felt bad just leaving him on the bench, but there were lots of kids around to give him a new home. We saw a couple people look at him but they didn't pick him up. I guess people are just a bit more cautious now-a-days.

Alls I know is that I am hooked now. I'm hooked on making sock creatures and I'm hooked on doing toy drops for The Toy Society!

I finally decided on a project for my 100th post give-a-way! I recently found the new February 2009 Crochet World in my mailbox. It's full of some fun patterns this month. I love the heart ripple afghan on the front! I wanted to try out the snowboarder's hat and the keyhole scarf first though. I had a skein and a half of this fun yarn left in my stash from making sweaters and afghans so decided to use it up. The hat fits from a child size up to an adult. It has a nice bit of stretch to it. The scarf is 3 ft. long.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post before midnight EST Friday January 9th. I will draw a winner on Saturday morning. I will send them internationally :) For fun, please let me know your favorite color. Mine is purple, but I have blue and green tendencies sometimes.

Good Luck!

* Please make sure to leave a way to get a hold of you. If you don't have a blog, please leave your email address. After a winner is chosen, I will email them. They then have 2 days to respond with their address or I will choose another winner.

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About Me

My name is Robin and I am a Wife to a wonderful Husband who "gets" me and my craft addictions. I have always loved to make things with my hands. This love has grown over the years and has broadened as it has grown. I love trying new ideas and looking for new and fun things to craft. I enjoy the challenge of designing my own patterns. I like to make things that bring a smile to people young and old. I have always believed that a handmade item will be remembered and loved for a lifetime therefore I put lots of love into each item I make.